I guess the logic is that it would be better to take a 2-star that wants to be here than a 3-star that decides he is not into it in year 2 and leaves. You can work on the 2-star player, but you cannot work on the guy whose locker is empty.

Also, better to actually determine that another school was a worse fit than not seeing it and always wondering.

It's not just recruiting, it is player development and leadership. Our defense was too young to have the strength to do what they needed to do. Another year in the weight room will help. I do think we need to start working on a mobile QB package next year to start prepping for 2013. If it was me, I would hire a top OC from the MAC (i.e. Toledo's OC) and go from there. The pro set has never worked at Syracuse and never will. We just don't have the 4-star and 5-sar OL/WRs to make it work. However, even our college offense (freeze option) got several receivers into the NFL.

People who are talking about firing Marrone are idiots. Greg Schiano was 4-8 last year and 8-4 this year. And they don't lose to much. For programs like us, we have to build up to our good seasons too. Next year, we will will surprise some teams.

If people don't want to go to the games. Fine. Don't. But don't pretend you are a fan. SU isnt Texas. Even Texas isn't Texas right now. That's the nature of the beast in college football. Most teams are going to be somewhere between 5 wins and 8 wins. Unless you are a football factory (which we most certainly are not), you don't get rid of a coach who is in that range.

Maryland got rid of Friedgen and went 2-10. Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is not fire the head coach. A few changes on the assistant coaching staff and a rethinking of the offensive philosophy are all that is needed. Plus, one more year in the weight room.

Enough with the run game. Why don't we use the pass to set up the run? Teams are expecting us to run and daring us to throw. Want to change the alignments? Come out passing. It doesn't have to be deep passes--just enough to loosen up the run game once and for all. This constant theme of establishing the run is NFL-esque. How about we abandon "labels," and just try to score points? The best offensive player is the QB--let's keep it in his hands.

Agree with the needs at RB and DE. Need someone who can pressure the QB besides Chandler. This has been a problem all year.

But we really need a kickoff specialist. If we are going to play field position, we need to build around special teams players that can help us there. It is worth a scholarship to get that type of leg. Let every team start from the 20 yard line...

I say ND.... and West Virginia. ND's academics can help offset the relatively poor academic reputation of WVU. There is something neat about having Pitt, WVU, BC, and Syracuse all back together. Throw in Maryland, Virginia, Va Tech, and ND... and that is one heck of a football conference for a "North." And good hoops too.

No interest in UConn or Rutgers. They duplicate areas already covered by the ACC landscape... especially with ND involved.

The ACC is ND's best and greatest chance to have an acceptable conference. Several private schools. A conference that stretches from Boston to Miami, with stops in NY, MD, VA, NC, GA, etc. They can move the Navy game around the country to get exposure... one year @ Navy, one year @ South Bend, one year in San Diego (when USC is a home game), etc.

Yes, how could Syracuse abandon the tradition started right around the time that Bill Clinton became President. We are talking almost a complete generation of folks who have grown up having to defend and impossible-to-defend conference.

Meanwhile, Cantor and Gross should be run out of town for consummating what their predecessors unsuccessfully tried to accomplish several years ago. You know, when the Big East was better.

And what's with all the games on the television. Football was meant to be played outside and on the radio. None of this fans being comfortable stuff.

Such a bunch of complainers. An excuse for everything. Not going to please some people. Or any people. So be it. Real fans tailgate and support the team... regardless of opponent... regardless of game time... regardless of parking obstacles... deal with crowds... and so on.

Expensive? It's expensive everywhere and the economy is crappy everywhere. Michigan has a 9% unemployment rate and you'll get nearly 200,000 people attending MSU and Michigan games. Talent? It doesn't stop Kentucky from having 70,000 people watch their crappy team every year (and not just when the good teams play). It doesn't stop East Carolina from averaging 50,000 a year. Parking? Go to Northwestern... park and take a bus twice as far as Skytop to Dome. Go to MSU... lots of parking... but no busses and PLENTY of walk. The difference is those people just suck it up.

Doesn't mean that SU cannot improve the product. And even if they thought they had it great... they should STILL try to improve. But not because of the babies and complainers on this site... but the folks that actually do go and have constructive criticism.

I do think that they need to address the pre-game atmosphere. The colleges that get massive attendance really promote the pregame festivities. Nobody at the major schools complains about noon games. That is because the atmosphere at 9 am is MORE FUN than the bar the night before. People look forward to it. Need the band out there playing and marching. Need fans INVITED to tailgate. You need to walk that fine line of supporting it, but not authorizing it.

His ability to play football is worth much more than a bachelor's degree in whatever it is that he is studying. Kudos to him for choosing to push his car around rather than steal TVs, beat up his girlfriend, drink, sell drugs, or any of the other things that cause his peers to get into trouble. If the NFL does not pan out, he can always fall back on his degree. He has been blessed with the tools to perhaps make the NFL. That's a pretty good basket to put most of his eggs in for now...

Besides, if you think every other undergrad at Syracuse--scholarship or otherwise--is doing the academic equivalent of pushing their car around, you are nuts. Just a negative loser. Sucks to be you.

Oh Geez. The babies are out in full force today. We can't have a home game against Clemson in MSG in 2018!!!! My god, just hope you are alive through the rest of the decade before worrying whether a couple conference games are in NYC. But for NYC, Syracuse would be in C-USA in 2018 with home games against Rice.

If you're not worried, you're naive. This team was already a mediocre defense before all the injuries, having lost seven starters. We are down to, what, one healthy starter from last year?

But if you are doom and gloom, you're naive too. This coaching staff's job is to come out and find a way for us to win... ugly or otherwise. At the end of the year, it's better to have ugly wins than pretty losses.

Every game we play is winnable and losable. We are not an elite football factory. No sense getting too bold or negative. Just watch the game (hopefully live) and enjoy it.

Archie, it bothers me too. Isn't it--at the very least--interesting??? Maybe the answers are that you cannot believe everything you see on a television screen. And that is something that CBS and ESPN and others never want you to think.

Can someone explain to me why the sideline angle showed the kick to be good? If Syracuse wasn't leaving, the Big East would have stood by its call on that basis, as well as the fact that the ref directly under the goal post called it good! How can you criticize the replay guy when two different angles showed two different things AND the fall on the field was "good"? In that circumstance, the call on the field, whatever it was, MUST stand. Just another reason to leave the Big East.... a very petty group of losers.

How can you reverse a call when one angle makes it look good and one angle makes it look no good? If you reverse it... all anyone will show on TV is the angle that made it look good. If you don't reverse it.. all anyone will show on TV is the angle that made it look no good. Tie goes to what was called on the field by the ref standing directly under the goalpost and looking up.

No tears for Toledo. Maybe next time... when you have the ball at the 9 yard line with timeouts and a minute remaining... don't worry about the clock or OT... just score a TD. They had us licked and let us up off the mat. And why go deep in OT? All game they had gotten 6-10 yards a pass. Five plays and they are in the end zone. Too conservative in regulation, too bold in OT = loss.

And, if the powers that be had cared more about football in the 1980's, all of this would have been avoided by a northeast all-sports conference. You can't focus on just one sport. You have to look at all of them. They didn't.

Of course, today it is very football focused. Football pays for the olympic sports. If you abandon football, you hurt the university as a whole.

Finally, aligning with the prestigious schools in the ACC is a bonus. We were a good fit several years ago and we are now.